Andrew Talansky

Talansky Rides Back Into White Jersey Fight

After a tough day in the Pyrenees, the American Tour de France debutant’s break puts him back into the best young rider competition

Joe Lindsey

(Photo by Andrew Talansky competes in the Stage 11 time trial at the 2013 Tour de France. (James Startt))

Andrew Talansky was pissed.

He’d just finished third in a stage of the Tour de France and gained over seven minutes on the overall classification (jumping to 12th overall) on a day no contender was expected to make a big move, and yet he was far from satisfied. As he rode a trainer at the team bus to cool down, he spoke with Garmin-Sharp director Bingen Fernandez about what went wrong.

Fernandez gestured, showing with his hands where Talansky had lost the stage by starting his sprint too late. “He hesitated a little bit,” said Fernandez of the tiny but crucial gaffe that cost Talansky a win in his debut Tour. “He was coming from the back [of the break] with big momentum, but he came from so far back that he couldn’t keep the momentum. If he could have, he might have won the stage.”

Talansky’s chance came from being up front to begin with, a chance that almost didn’t happen. “This was kind of the one stage in the Tour where we thought a big group could go away and make it to the line,” said Talansky.

Everyone else knew it too, though, and because several teams like Lampre and Vacansoleil missed out entirely, the first two hours were a desperate tug of war between the 18-rider move and the pack, with the gap hovering around a minute and a blistering first-hour pace of more than 48kph.

“It was horrible, actually,” said Talansky’s teammate, David Millar, who helped instigate the move. “As soon as I got in it I realized I wasn’t on a day to win. I was at my limit the whole time…my quest for the stage win was out the window but I did well getting Andrew back up in his objective.”

With the time gain, Talansky vaulted back up into contention for the best young rider competition. A tough day on the first summit finish at Ax 3 Domaines, combined with a freak crash on Stage 10 that cost him time, put him a distant third, 8:27 behind leader Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep). The rankings didn’t change today, but after his gains, Talansky jumped to just 1:10 behind the young Polish phenom, and :36 down on Movistar’s Nairo Quintana.

While the main goal today was to try for the win, Talansky admitted his significant time gain put the white jersey competition “back on the radar a little bit. We’ll have to see how tomorrow goes, and the next week will be kind of based off that. But it’s nice to have a chance and at least be close to it again.”

Tomorrow is a big question mark: the longest stage of the race at 242.5km and finishing atop Mont Ventoux, a tactical, mercurial climb that riders fear for its unpredictable weather—a climb that Talansky has never ridden before in a race.

But he’s been close. At last spring’s Paris-Nice, Talansky led the overall classification on the crucial summit finish of Montagne de Lure, a huge ridgetop whose western flank extends to the foot of the Ventoux, 60km away. It’s a similar climb; a forested slope gives way to exposed sections where the wind can play havoc with a rider.

That day, Talansky attacked to try to draw out second-placed Richie Porte of Sky and get away in a two-rider move to decide the race. But in the headwinds, Porte wouldn’t take the bait. Talansky went again and still Porte waited. A third attack by the young American was one too many. This time, Porte pounced and rode up into the swirling fog for a solo win and took the jersey, which he’d never give back the rest of the race.

At the finish that day, Talansky was quiet but clearly disappointed that his tactic had backfired because of weather; the headwinds had created defensive racing and allowed riders to draft more than they could on a climb.

At just 24 years old and in his third pro season, Talansky still makes mistakes. But, says his team manager, Jonathan Vaughters, he doesn’t tend to make them more than once.

Today at the Tour, Talansky rued his missed chance for a victory. “Fifty meters of hesitation probably cost me a stage win at the Tour,” he said, vowing, “So that’s not a mistake I’ll ever make again.”

Tomorrow on Ventoux, Talansky will surely be mindful of the lessons of the Montagne de Lure last spring, balancing his drive to win against his need to be patient. “Hopefully, many more chances are going to come but each year you don’t get many opportunities to win a stage at the Tour de France,” he said, reflecting on one such chance. “In hindsight you always think you could’ve done something differently. So I was just frustrated about that. But besides that we accomplished the goals for the day. I have to be pretty satisfied. It’s my first Tour.”